Many satellite and digital cable systems provide pay-per-view television events to their customers for purchase. While most television providers supply television channels to their customers for a monthly fee, pay-per-view events are typically single television events that must be purchased by the customer prior to viewing. For example, a pay-per-view event may be a sporting event or a movie that a customer may wish to spend extra money to view. Upon purchasing, the pay-per-view event is usually viewed on the purchaser's television like any other program offered by the television provider.
A typical satellite or digital cable television system providing pay-per-view events to the users of the system may include a set-top box that receives and decrypts the television signal such that a television program, or pay-per-view event, may be viewed by the user. In a satellite television system, the television signal is broadcast by a satellite, collected by a satellite dish and transmitted to the set-top box. In a digital cable system, the television signal is typically transmitted to the user through a cable connected directly to the set-top box.
The set-top box may decrypt the television signal and provide the decrypted signal to a television for the user to view. As part of the decryption process, the set-top box may include a smart card associated with the set-top box. The smart card may store user account information used by the set-top box to assist in the decryption of the television signal such that the user's television may display the provided program. The smart card may also store decryption information provided by the television system to decrypt pay-per-view events once the pay-per-view event is purchased by the user.